Direct measurement of nuclear dependence of charged current quasielasticlike neutrino interactions using MINERvA

Journal article

Charged-current ν_{μ} interactions on carbon, iron, and lead with a final state hadronic system of one or more protons with zero mesons are used to investigate the influence of the nuclear environment on quasielasticlike interactions. The transferred four-momentum squared to the target nucleus, Q^{2}, is reconstructed based on the kinematics of the leading proton, and differential cross sections versus Q^{2} and the cross-section ratios of iron, lead, and carbon to scintillator are measured for the first time in a single experiment. The measurements show a dependence on the atomic number. While the quasielasticlike scattering on carbon is compatible with predictions, the trends exhibited by scattering on iron and lead favor a prediction with intranuclear rescattering of hadrons accounted for by a conventional particle cascade treatment. These measurements help discriminate between different models of both initial state nucleons and final state interactions used in the neutrino oscillation experiments.

Authors: Betancourt, M; Ghosh, A; Walton, T; Altinok, O; Bellantoni, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Amwerican Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 119
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 082001
• Publication date: 2017-08-25
• Acceptance date: 2017-05-16
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.119.082001
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Pmid: 28952766
• Language: English
• Keywords: Journal Article; MINERvA Collaboration